The third chapter in EXPONENTIAL: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement is my favorite.  It talks about being an apprentice of Jesus… about hearing from the Holy Spirit and dreaming BIG dreams. 

Both dreaming big dreams and hearing from the Lord daily are things I strive for in my life, so naturally this chapter gets me pretty inspired.  Ironically, I was given the opportunity to do a video introduction for this chapter when Dave and Jon Ferguson published it.  I hadn’t even read it!  You can see it ABOVE!

So last night I was reading chapter 3 at the gym.  I had already been thinking about going for a walk after, just to see what was going on in the neighborhood, but chapter 3 reminded me of my need to hear from God and I KNEW I wasn’t just going for a walk – I was going to go hear from God. 

As I began my walk I began to pray out loud.  It seems like the more momentum that is growing in my life and ministry here in Uptown, the more I question being here.  I began asking God what we were doing here; asking for direction, confirmation, reassurance that this was the right move.  Then I realized I was asking God for sub-standard help.  What I needed to be praying was my willingness to be obedient where I am today.  Asking if I’m where I need to be is irrelevant.  Hearing from God and acting in obedience is the only way to be sure I am where He wants.

As I walked, I changed my route a bit and walked towards the homeless shelter I spend time in.  Although it was after 9pm, I thought I might see someone I know, or at least I’d see what that part of town looks like at night.  It’s pretty intimidating during the day, so I braced myself.  As I approached the shelter I saw a familiar face.  Greeting a guy I’d played a few rounds of UNO with once last month, I introduced myself to another guy there with him.  After a bit, I got the impression I had walked up on a shady deal, so I excused myself and continued to walk.  About a minute later I heard my name!  Sure enough, Jon, who I had just met, was asking me to hold up.  When he caught up with me he asked me if I knew where would be safe to sleep tonight.  Turns out the “shady deal” I thought I was witnessing was actually a guy giving a new guy in town some advice on how to survive the night so he could get into a good rehab program in the morning.  Oops…

Jon and I then walked and talked for the next hour.  I gave him a few ideas about where I thought he could sleep, but admitted I wasn’t very experienced in those things.  He was confused as to who I was and what I was doing… I had just come from the gym, so I’m sure my appearance didn’t give any clear indication of my lifestyle… so I explained that I moved here 2.5 months ago to pastor the pastor-less.  I told John that I want to find pastoral opportunities to serve people who don’t feel comfortable in the local church.  He was dumbfounded, telling me that was the most beautiful thing he’d heard and laughing at how he fully expected that sort of vision to be accompanied by a passing of a collection plate.  I laughed pretty hard at that.  Evidently I can market my ministry one day if I need to!  Good to know!

Jon’s story unfolded with fascinating detail.  Growing up, at age 13 his dad left him bus fare and cut the grass weekly but moved into his step-mom’s house… giving this young teenager the run of the city.  By young adulthood he and his wife were hooked on drugs with two young children.  His children are the motivation for him to continue in rehab programs and his ex-wife is his inspiration.  She completed 3 rehab programs and is now running one!  He beamed with pride and explained how together they were unstoppable!  He also gave me details of how low he had gotten, explaining that he was ashamed to admit it.  I applauded him for his honesty and courage to face his failures because that is empowering!

We continued to walk and talk… sharing bits and pieces with each other.  I told him that I had asked God for this huge abandoned hospital we were approaching.  He looked astonished and asked me what that meant; was I filling paper work out and stuff?  I laughed and explained all I had done was send one email basically saying “I see this building is empty! I’d love to redeem it!”  He laughed at my idealism and admitted that God can actually do things like that sometimes!

 Finally I felt like it was time to let Jon continue to explore his sleeping options alone.  As we’d walked I’d pointed out a few ideas for him, but I needed to go home now.  Before I left, I asked Jon if I could pray with him.  I doubt a woman has ever prayed with this man before, let alone standing on a street corner at 10pm.  But there we were, right beside the building I’d had the faith to ask God to give me, and I prayed for Jon, for his family, for his protection and for his transformation into the man God created him to be.  When I was done, Jon’s face was wet, his eyes pooling over with tears.  He seemed a little uncomfortable with his display of emotion, so we hugged and he went on his way.

 I really wanted to invite Jon in, give him a comfortable place to stay and a good breakfast to send him on his way.  I knew he would be ok, but I sincerely think he was terrified.  This is a new part of town for him and he had just left one rehab program that day that scared him, and was hoping to be accepted into another one this morning.  As I continued my walk home, I wrestled with God.  I know Scripture says I’m evil if I say “be blessed and on your way” to a hungry man when I have the ability to feed him.  So I wrestled with Jesus over what it looks like to actually live out Biblical hospitality.  Honestly I would have invited Jon over if I lived on my own.  I know that sounds even crazier, but having a roommate means I not only am accountable to her, but I am responsible for how I set an example. 

Finally I got the peace I needed.  I realized I did not feel like I was disobeying the Holy Spirit’s prompting.  I reminded myself that I was, indeed, open to hearing from God – and if it was clear that bringing Jon in was necessary, I would have understood that in my spirit.  So although I wanted to, I did not feel any spiritual guidance to do so.

So that brings me back to chapter 3 of EXPONENTIAL.  Hearing from God is mission critical.  If I had not gone on my walk at the prompting of the Lord, I would not have changed my route to the darker side of town and I would not have met Jon.  I would not have had the pastoral opportunity in Jon’s life.

“Being Spirit led is the most critical quality in the life of an apprentice of Jesus.  So what does it mean?  Being Spirit led is simply hearing from God and obeying what he says.  Sounds simple, right?  It is, but it’s also incredibly challenging.” –EXPONENTIAL: pg 51

This post is drawn from chapter 2 in When Helping Hurts; How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself.

What is Poverty?  Take a second and jot some words down.  Open a new word document or scribble on a post-it note near you.  What are the words, phrases, images that come to mind?

What are the roots of Poverty?  Do the same for this question.  Where does poverty come from?  What causes it?  Why are people poor?

Last week my small group threw a birthday party for the clients in a transitional shelter in Uptown.  We came in, put up a few “Happy Birthday” banners and strung a few streamers to decorate.  We loaded up trays of homemade cup-cakes and began scooping ice-cream into bowls, and the festivities began!

We introduced ourselves to a room of 50 and invited anyone with a birthday in August to come forward.  Three men cautiously and courageously came forward.  One by one I introduced the men to the group – and asked them a few simple questions about themselves.  

After each guy was “celebrated” individually, we presented them all with a cupcake topped with a sparkler-candle and sang the slowest version of Happy Birthday I’ve ever heard!  The applause and smiles were breaking any last bits of ice left in that room!

Then we took our trays of cupcakes and ice cream and began serving the rest of the room.  We came with cup cakes, we came with ice cream, and then we came with a trash bag to gather their trash – attempting to make even gathering trash an act of loving service.  Through the 20 minutes of passing out cup-cakes and cleaning up, spontaneous applause erupted 3 times!  It was evident this group was authentically grateful for the first edition of a monthly tradition.

Remember the questions I asked at the beginning of this post?  Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert did some global research presented in When Helping Hurts on this topic.  Their study reveals;
“when poor people mention having a lack of material things, they tend to describe their condition in far more psychological and social terms than our North American audiences.  Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness.  North

American audiences <non-poor> tend to emphasize a lack of material things such as food, money, clean water, medicine, housing, etc.”  

About American poverty they specifically point out; “a loss of meaning, purpose, and hope that plays a major role in the poverty in North America.  The problem goes well beyond the material dimension, so the solution must go beyond the material as well.”

This brings me to my 2nd initial question.  What is the root of Poverty?  Where does it come from?  Corbett and Fikkert liken dealing with poverty to dealing with a mysterious illness… and it is this imagery that has inspired me to put into context our birthday parties at the shelter.  Corbett and Fikkert explain that doctors often make two mistakes when dealing with a sick person; “1) treating symptoms instead of underlying illness; 2) misdiagnosing the underlying illness and prescribing the wrong medicine.”

Anyone who has ever been treated by a doctor who lacks compassion knows, it is far easier to trust the medical advice of a doctor who first meets the needs of you as a person.  I would suggest that the heart of a GOOD doctor is moved with compassion for the sick.  It is first COMPASSION, not statistics that moves the heart of a doctor to alleviate the suffering of an individual or a group of people.

Most of us are not “doctors”, and I’m not sure I want to be (theoretically speaking or literally).  So what’s our role?  Why do we even concern ourselves with the “sick” if we are not trained to help heal them?  Someone needs to tend to humanity of the poor.

Do you remember when you had mysterious illnesses as a child? Or maybe you are a parent and you’ve experienced the helplessness of a sick child and nothing you can do to help.  Or so it seems.  What DO you do?

You crawl in bed with that child.  You hold his head in your lap.  You rub her back and sing songs to her.  You assure him of your presence; “I’m here… momma’s here.”  You don’t shut the door to the bedroom and say; “Sorry you don’t feel well, the doctor will be by in an hour, maybe he can fix it.”  No, you hold that child, healing parts of her that no doctor can treat with medicine.

That’s what we’re doing with these birthday parties.  That’s what we’re doing when we take time to get to know a lonely, marginalized person.  That’s what we are doing when we reach out to the person sitting awkwardly in the corner of the room.

So often we squelch that God-driven compassion with defeating thoughts like; “I can’t really help them.  I don’t have what they need.  Their problems are too big for me.” Compounded by the reality that we misdiagnose what’s really wrong all the time and see poverty through lenses shaped by media, personal experience, education etc.  I would suggest if we can push those things aside and strive to see people again, we will begin to uncover the root systems of all sorts of poverty, and be used as healing salves to see lives transformed in our communities.

I’ll let you know how things continue to progress in Uptown.

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